THE LEADER (Port Townsend, Washington) 12 July 06 Bugs and spiders keep these amphibians happy (Kasia Pierzga)
With a web full of baby garden spiders wrapped around his index finger, John Stanger reaches down into a glass aquarium filled with lush green foliage.
Within seconds, the aquarium comes alive with tiny, blue-and-black frogs, drawn toward the struggling tangle of arachnids.
Mmmm, lunch!
Blue poison dart frogs are not the kind of pet that goes along with you on a walk or warms your toes on a cold winter day, but they make pretty good pets.
“They’re not dirty, they’re not smelly, and they don’t shed,” said Stanger, who lives in Port Townsend.
As their name implies, poison dart frogs can release toxins from the skin that are distasteful and potentially lethal to would-be predators. Only a few snakes and large spiders can take them on as prey.
The most toxic species of poison dart frogs are used by South American tribes to poison the tips of their blowgun darts.
The source of the frog’s skin toxins is its diet of ants, termites, beetles and other small insects. In captivity, its insect diet is different, so the frog loses its toxicity.
The blue poison dart frog species kept by Stanger was discovered only about 40 years ago. The tiny creatures live only in isolated “rain forest islands” in the Sipaliwini savannah of southern Suriname – places that get few human visitors.
An adult of the species grows only about 2 inches in length and weighs about a third of an ounce. They are very sensitive to moisture loss. Any frogs that escape their controlled aquarium environment can dry up and die within 15 minutes.
And because of their diminutive size, escapees can be almost impossible to recover. Stanger lost about 25 of them a few years ago when an exchange student staying at the house accidentally bumped the aquarium lid, leaving a tiny gap open at the top.
Right away, the frogs spotted the gap and made their escape. Overnight 25 frogs were gone, never to be seen again.
Only one was left behind, Stanger said: “The stupid one.”
Stanger’s frog zoo also includes one of the biggest species in the world – the African bullfrog. The monster frogs can grow to about 9 inches long, live as long as 30 years and reach a weight of about 4 pounds.
And they have teeth.
Native to watering holes in the open grasslands of sub-Saharan Africa, the huge frogs will aggressively defend their eggs if an animal or human comes near. As carnivores, they’ll eat just about anything they can fit into their mouths – including each other.
Resting peacefully in its aquarium, it’s hard to imagine the fat, 7-inch-long, dull-green lump might be dangerous. But Stanger says you shouldn’t underestimate the frog’s defensive instincts.
“If you pick him up he won’t bite,” Stanger said. “But if you hold your fingers in front of his face, he’ll try to eat you.”
Like all frogs, the bullfrog is interested in eating only things that move. And from this species’ perspective, the best way to see something that’s moving is to sit perfectly still.
“He’s the kind of animal that finds a spot he likes and just sits there until something passes that he can eat,” Stanger said.
Stanger keeps his African bullfrog fat and happy with a steady supply of night crawlers, along with the ubiquitous Northwest slugs and snails. And until recently, Stanger also augmented its diet with unlucky garter snakes that happened into the yard.
“The people next door have five cats, so there’s no chance of that anymore,” he said.
Despite being considered a delicacy among the indigenous peoples who share their environment, the bullfrogs are not considered an endangered species.
Taking care of frogs is pretty simple, Stanger said. They need to be kept warm and moist, and they need a steady supply of creepy-crawlies to keep them well fed, but other than that their upkeep is pretty minimal, he said.
And if you head out on vacation, there’s no need to bring in a professional frog-sitter. If you stock the aquarium with enough insects, they’ll stay fat and happy for as long as four weeks.
Stanger’s passion for hopping amphibians began when he was a young boy in England. After a friend shared some frogs he had caught in a nearby pond, Stanger was hooked.
Frogophiles like Stanger are actually helping to play a role in conserving amphibian species such as the blue poison dart frogs, which are becoming increasingly rare due to loss of habitat and climate change.
“There are probably more of the blue species in captivity now than there are in the wild,” he said. “Maybe if we can produce a few more, we can help them out a bit.”
Bugs and spiders keep these amphibians happy